For Susie in Texas

As most of you who read this blog know, I rarely write about politics here. The main reason is that I see this as a blog mainly about knitting (OK, and cats, too - but who can resist when one has beloved pets?). Everyday life is also a topic. Work, due to the confidential nature of what I do, is not a frequent topic. Politics, either - probably because I don't like how divisive the dialogue can be. I like to avoid the visceral, emotional reaction that often arises (on all sides) in political discussions. It may be avoidance on my part - an excuse for not standing up in the public forum of the internet. Another excuse - I deal with conflict and solving the problems of conflict every day at work.

However, I find politics interesting. DH is a political junkie - he reads more political sites and blogs than I read knitting sites and blogs - and that's saying something. You will find me frequently commenting over at Jean's blog.

So Susie in Texas commented that she'd like to know my sources for my comments about Sarah Palin. So, Susie, here are my sources.

To see coverage of her ethics problem, see here, here, and here.

For information about how the Republicans are claiming she has foreign policy experience, see here, here, here, (see John Bolton's quote) and here.

For information on her support or lack of support for that pork barrel project - the bridge to nowhere, see here.

It appears from her answers on a questionnaire (when running for governor) that the pledge of allegiance is connected to (or was written by?) the founding fathers and she doesn't know the duties of the Vice-President of the U.S.

I don't think there will be another such important presidential election in my lifetime. So be patient, dear readers - especially those that may not share my viewpoints. Until November 4th, there may be more political posts.

The New Stash Haus

Front Hall

Dining Room

Pocket Door to Dining Room

Butler's Pantry and Swing Door to Dining Room

Kitchen

Stairs

Window on Landing

Upstairs Hall

Master Bedroom



Another Bedroom

Another Bedroom


It's quite the house - old knob and tube wiring and old fixtures. Our electrician offered to do all electrical work in exchange for the fixtures. He was serious in that offer. As tempting as a financial savings that would be, I just can't bear to let them go. There's alot of work ahead of us. Roof, furnace, and wiring all need fixing/replacement. The floors need to be refinished as they were only done around the outside of the rooms (or what was seen around a rug and not under the center floor rug).

Need to finish packing - moving on Friday. Yikes.

Now

Change happens -- change happens because the American people demand it, because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit, that American promise, that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west, a promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back...not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.

America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Senator Barack Obama, Denver, August 28, 2008.

To read this speech in its entirety, visit here.
Picture from here.

Then

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington D.C., August 28, 1963.
To read the speech in its entirety, visit here.

Food for Thought

Once we move, our "eating out" options in Smalltown, USA will be a bit more limited than those to which we have become accustomed, unless we're willing to drive quite a distance. For instance, if I could, I would eat every day at our favorite Nepalese restaurant or our favorite Indian restaurant - I love the food that much.

After we move, our choices will be the local bars that serve food, pizza from the local gas station, a family restaurant (think Perkins but with a less exotic menu), the local country club, McDonald's, and, oh joy of joys, a new Mexican restaurant.

We stopped at the Mexican restaurant for dinner one evening after looking for a new house. Our hopes that the food would not be "americanized" were high due to the fact that the waitress did not speak English - and our hopes were not dashed - we'll definitely be back there, again.

I followed Knitting On the Green's example and have done a food meme. What have you eaten that you disliked most? Or enjoyed most? Or both?

Bold type = things I've eaten.
Italic type = foods I've not eaten.
Strike through type = foods I've eaten and would not eat again.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche in ice cream
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - OK, I have smoked a cigar (oh, those crazy college days).
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly. Or Jello Shots, as we call them in the US (again - those crazy college days).
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masal
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear wine
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (What the heck is this?)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frog's legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess fruit pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (So do the kids who ate glue in primary school qualify for this?)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake